As part of our continuing commitment to helping our players enjoy our games via online play, we are making the GMT Ventrilo Voice Server available to all of our customers for FREE use to augment your online game play, effective immediately. We hope you guys will find this a useful additional tool in enjoying your online play. As we've tested the system recently, customer feedback has been excellent regarding the sound quality and ease of use of our Ventrilo Voice server, especially for multi-player gaming.

Note that our voice server can be used to augment play of any online gaming - Cyberboard, Sun Tzu, Vassal, ADC, etc. Ventrilo just provides the voice conferencing component, while taking up very few system resources. We generally use Vassal with Ventrilo in our live online sessions, but that is because of Vassal's live "Synchronization" feature - which allows all attendees to synch up with what is on the leader's vassal screen and follow his moves visually in real time as well.

Over the coming weeks, we will also be providing more - and more varied - online live events via the GMT Ventrilo Voice Server. Sometimes in concert with Vassal, sometimes just with audio conferencing, these will be opportunities for teaching games, showing details of upcoming games, holding seminars by various designers and company insiders, and Q & A sessions that offer real-time access to many of the GMT insiders. We're looking forward to enhancing our communications with our customers and bettering our teaching of and support for our games via this venue.

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Upcoming Ventrilo/VASSAL Online Sessions:

Note: You'll need both Ventrilo access (see "How To Set Up Ventrilo" instructions below) and the appropriate VASSAL module to participate fully in these sessions. You can download the VASSAL modules from our VASSAL page(For playtest games not yet on that page, we will provide specific download instructions.). You'll want to log onto Ventrilo and also run the VASSAL module (and go online inside the module) roughly 10-15 minutes before the session begins so the session leader can get your VASSAL software synched with his computer.

On Thursday, March 12 at 8:30pm Eastern Time, Joel Toppen will be hosting the next installment in a series of live demos of the Next War Series! We hope you can tune in to see how this new game design works! We will be using the latest version of the Next War: Taiwan VASSAL Modulefor this demo.

Did you miss one of our demos? We are now recording Video recordings of our Demos! Check out our GMT YouTube Channel to view these videos.

Here's some of past demos:

Many Old Demonstrations were recorded in MP3 format and can be downloaded here:

Use the following instructions to set up the Ventrilo sofware on your computer -- also, we have added a YouTube video (below) which you can use to guide you through this process:

1. Go to www.ventrilo.com and download the client software (from leftside menu) (PC or Mac). Once you have it on your desktop....

2. Open Ventrilo

3. Input your Setup Information. Ventrilo will open to a screen that has three blanks at the top. You only need to fill in the top two areas USERNAME and SERVER - BINDINGS can stay blank.

To fill in an area, hit the right arrow to the right of the blank. For USER NAME, please use your real names so we can know who is using the service. Click OK when finished.

For the SERVER, you need to enter the following info:

Server: GMT Games Voice Server

Hostname or IP: vent4.gameservers.com

Port #: 4921

Password (case sensitive): GMTVoice09

(Default Channel) can stay blank

Then hit OK.

Note that Ventrilo saves all that info you entered above, so on subsequent visits, and that the server and password entry is a one-time thing. On subsequent visits, just open Ventrilo, press Connect, and you're in.

Back at the main Ventrilo Screen, press CONNECT once all that is filled in. You should go into a screen that says "GMT Voice Server" at the top with several "channels" underneath. Each channel restricts conversation to just the users in that channel, so it works great for two-player games, multi-player games, conference calls, or just voice chat. Just click a channel name to enter that channel. Numbered Rooms are provided for game play.

Note that Ventrilo is a "push to talk" system. Once you are in a channel, just press the "left control" key to talk. If you want to change the "talk" key, click the "Setup" button on the right of your screen and delete text in the "Hotkey" box. Then, with your cursor still in the box, press the key that you want to be the new hotkey. Click "OK" at the bottom, and you're all set.

Once you are connected to the server, if you have any trouble with your microphone, you can click the "Setup" button at right to modify your Input, Output, volume control, etc.

Note that using speakers when speaking over any VOIP program can cause echoes and other feedback and lead your gaming partner to want to mercilessly crush you! :-) For an environment like Fields of Fire 101 where someone else is doing the majority of the talking, it's not a big deal, but if you are using our server to play your online games or touch base by voice with your gaming buddies (and you're welcome to do that), then headphones and mike are definitely preferred.

If you have any problems with using the server, please feel free to contact Gene either on the server (user GMT Gene) or via e-mail at [email protected].